1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic developing apparatus for developing a photographic light-sensitive material, in particular, a silver halide photographic light-sensitive material for a photomask (a mask film) for industrial use, and a process for forming an image using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a printed circuit board is being miniaturized according to reduction in size of home electric appliances, such as a potable phone. According to the miniaturization of a printed circuit board, the wiring pattern formed on the surface of the circuit board is being thinned. It is the current situation that the line width of the pattern formed on the printed circuit board produced by using a mask film is as thin as from 10 to 15 μm.
The mask film herein is a pattern film used for exposing a printed circuit board. The pattern film is inspected for detecting defects with an AOI (automated optical inspection) system (such as FPT-MARVEL, produced by Yachiyo Corp.). In order to inspect the pattern having a width of from 10 to 15 μm, in general, the inspection system is necessarily set to such a configuration that can detect defects having a size of about 5 μm. However, there are cases where dusts attached upon development bring about false detection, which is thus a factor inhibiting exact evaluation.
Examples of the dusts as the inhibiting factor include those floating in a developing part, a fixing part and a rinsing rack part of an automatic developing apparatus, and those attached to rollers. These dusts are formed mainly of water stain and attached silver. The water stain is formed mainly by putrefaction of gelatin eluted from a light-sensitive material film by bacteria.
In order to prevent dusts from being attached to a mask film, a developer solution, a fixing solution and water used in an automatic developing apparatus are previously cleaned by filtering with such a filter that is capable of removing dusts having a size of 3 μm or more. However, the filter cannot remove bacteria, and bacteria remaining in a developer solution or the like putrefies gelatin eluted from a film to form foreign matters having a size of 5 μm or more. Therefore, in a conventional automatic developing apparatus, gelatin is accumulated in grooves formed on the surface of the roller. Furthermore, there is also such a problem that the entire surface of the roller is putrefied to form water stain constitutively, and as a result, the surface of the developed film is contaminated thereby.
In order to remove the stain forcedly, a cleaning system using a cleaning film (for example, Fuji Cleaning Film, produced by Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd.) has been developed. However, a conventional automatic developing apparatus generally requires about 10 sheets of cleaning films. Furthermore, in order to remove the stain completely, it is necessary to clean the rack periodically, which brings about increase in labor cost.
Upon developing a mask film, an automatic developing apparatus for ordinary prepress for printing has been conventionally used. In the case where an automatic developing apparatus for prepress for printing is used, in order to increase conveying power of rollers, the rollers used therein have grooves on the surfaces thereof for conveying light-sensitive materials using a PET base material having a thickness of from 60 μm, which has low stiffness, to a PET base material having a thickness of 175 μm, which has high stiffness.
However, the mask film mainly uses a support having a thickness exceeding 175 μm, and there is such a problem that dusts get into the grooves for improving the conveying power and are attached to the surface of the film.
JP-A-6-95335 discloses an automatic developing apparatus for carrying out developing, fixing and rinsing steps by conveying a light-sensitive material with porous conveying rollers, in which the apparatus has means for applying a processing solution to the light-sensitive material held and conveyed with the porous conveying rollers, and means for heating the processing solution applied to the light-sensitive material.
JP-A-6-95335 discloses that the automatic developing apparatus can be miniaturized and is substantially free of fatigue of the processing solution, and the developing apparatus can be easily operated and maintained.
JP-A-6-95335 discloses an automatic developing apparatus using rollers having a large number of pores on the surface thereof, but there is no description about specific surface roughness of the rollers. Furthermore, JP-A-6-95335 has no description relating to water stain, which is considered in the invention.
JP-A-11-104613 discloses a method for preventing formation of water stain in a water rinsing step after photographic development by automatically feeding a water stain preventing agent to rinsing water and automatically mixed by agitating therewith, in which the agitation is started before feeding the water stain preventing agent, and the agitation is continued beyond the completion of feed of the water preventing agent until the water stain preventing agent is completely dissolved and dispersed in rinsing water. JP-A-11-104613 discloses that the method for preventing formation of water stain can effectively and economically prevents formation of water stain in rinsing water used in the rising step after photographic development.
JP-A-2004-33816 discloses a controlling system having the following features. In the first feature, from 0.01 to 0.1 ppm of ozone gas is fed to water in a rinsing bath. In the second feature, from 0.01 to 0.1 ppm of an ozone gas is fed to the rinsing bath during a predetermined period, and after terminating the feed of ozone gas, the same feeding operation is carried out within a period of time that is five times or less the feeding time, followed by repeating the operation. In the third feature, the system is constituted by an ozone generator, a blower pump, a feed controlling timer and a feed pausing timer, and the feed controlling timer and the feed pausing timer are alternately operated to feed ozone gas intermittently with certain intervals to rinsing water or circulating water used in a processing step of various photographic films or luminescent materials or printing processes. In the fourth feature, the controlling system delays the operation time of the blowing pump for feeding ozone gas after completing the feed of ozone gas in such a period that corresponds to the capacity of piping from the apparatus to the rinsing bath. JP-A-2004-33816 discloses that formation of water stain in photographic films and light-sensitive materials for prepress can be prevented with ozone gas by using the controlling system without adverse affect on photographic films and light-sensitive materials for prepress in a convenient manner suitable for the target matters, e.g., the rinsing bath capacity, and the photographic films and light-sensitive materials for prepress.
However, JP-A-11-104613 and JP-A-2004-33816 relate to prevention of formation of water stain but cannot deal with water stain having been formed, and also cannot deal with invading foreign matters. Therefore, these literatures fail to provide an ultimate solution to the outstanding problem.
In particular, rollers in a conventional automatic developing apparatus have conveying grooves, and there has been no solution to the problem that water stain is liable to be attached to the grooves.